


something to steal

by Space_Samurai



Series: Gang Activity [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Bisexuality, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Isle of the Lost (Disney), M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Romantic Gestures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-12 23:01:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20572361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Space_Samurai/pseuds/Space_Samurai
Summary: Stealing doesn't make him happy. Now, stealing for those who make him happy... That's a different thing.





	something to steal

**Author's Note:**

> And here I am, continuing this universe

Stealing doesn’t make him happy. Not really. It brings him trouble more often than not. When he was younger, he’d return to his father’s shop with bruises in his body and the stolen goods hidden in his clothes. With time, it would grow to be a far more entertaining thing: when Jay grows prettier and his smiles allow him to take far more than simple coins and trinkets. His pockets go full of rings and golden bracelets, and his neck full of hickeys and lipstick.

It still doesn’t make him happy.

Until one day, it does.

He is sixteen years old, Mal has officially become the leader of their little gang and Jay spends most of his days around her, Evie and Carlos. He steals a ring from one of Mother Gothel’s girls, it’s a nice thing; a silver band with a blue crystal on top. The crystal is probably fake, as most shiny things on the Isle, but it will sell well nonetheless. His father will be pleased.

He was wandering around, as he had skipped school and his friends were in class. He took his sweet time to look at the ring and the more he stared at it, the more it reminded him of Evie. He wasn’t certain why. Probably because of the blue, it was like her hair. In the back of his mind, he could hear her screeching about how there were ten shades away from being the same and Jay couldn’t help but smile.

His father didn’t know, and what he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him. So Jay goes to Dragon Hall with the intention of giving her the ring. She’s already outside when he arrives, beautiful and cheery as usual, with Mal’s arm around her waist as Carlos shows them something he found in the old, torn-up library.

He greets them with a smirk and pulls the ring out of his jacket. He feels the lingering stares of other students, but none of them would dare to try anything against him, especially with Mal and the others present.

“What’s with that?” Mal asked, raising her eyebrow lazily.

Jay’s smile does not falter. “Evie, I got it for you.” Well, not exactly. But the intention mattered. “It reminded me of your hair and I thought you may like it.”

To Jay’s utter astonishment, instead of ranting at him about the clear color difference between the crystal and her hair, she visibly brightens and a gasp leaves her mouth. The back of his neck feels suddenly hot. She takes the ring almost delicately, and tries it in one of her fingers. It’s a perfect fit.

She breaks into a smile that would put every princess in Auradon to shame and jumps at him. Jay is surrounded by her arms and she squeaks in his neck and gives him a light peck on the lips.

“Thank you!” And then, she recalls her manners or the fact that they are in public and steps away, but the happiness in her face remains there. “I love it, I’ll never take it off. Or well, maybe when I’m wearing something orange or green, but I don’t really have many orange or green things…” There’s the Evie he knows. Carlos rolls his eyes from behind her, throwing Jay a look. As if he didn’t spend hours working on his hair. Mal sighs and listens to her intently.

Jay just stares at her mutely, wide-eyed and with his heart beating wildly against his chest. He really hopes that Mal can’t tell he’s blushing or he’ll never hear the end of it.

Later, when he walks back to his father’s shop, his pace is light and his head is kind of up in the clouds.

Jay knows all about claims in the Isle. He walks around with the evidence of Mal’s _ affection _all over his neck and jaw, and with the clothes that Evie has made especially for him. Those aren’t the common scraps put together that everyone wears in the Isle, no, Jay’s jacket, pants and shirt are all measured and stitched for him.

It feels good to know that now she has something from him to wear. It makes him feel somehow proud, though a thief has little reason to be proud of anything. For the first time, he’s actually happy about having stolen. 

He wonders if Carlos likes jewelry.

Some days later, Jay gets a new shirt and the pants that he had long thrown away are back on his hands, now mended and with no holes to be seen. He thanks Evie and she beams at him, smiling brightly. His clothes even smell like her and Jay suspects she might have sprayed some perfume over them, he doesn’t complain, it’s a nice smell. He wears them proudly and he hopes that everyone knows who made them.

* * *

The next time he feels happy about stealing, it’s about Mal.

He does it out of impulse nowadays, without even realizing. He blinks and suddenly, his pockets and the inside of his jacket are full of things that most definitely aren’t his. The only problem with this, is that his father has started to get used to a certain amount of things per day and if Jay doesn’t meet the quota… Well, Jay tries to sleep in Mal’s floor or Evie’s room those days. He’s got a thing for spending the night with them. He doesn’t do it much with Carlos, for the boy is genuinely terrified of how his mother would react at finding him, a known thief, in her house.

He is always finding useful things, not everything is rings and bracelets, though that doesn’t stop him from trying to get as many as possible. More than once he steals the same items, from people who are stupid enough to buy them back from his father’s shop. Evie now has a little collection of trinkets, gifted to her by Jay.

He tries to mimic this with Mal, but Maleficent’s daughter has little interest in rings and bracelets, or necklaces or earrings. Jay is more than a bit disappointed, while he’d never voice it, he thinks that Mal would look pretty good with all golden bands and shiny, colorful crystals. He still needs to make sure with Carlos, but he has a feeling that the other boy is not that interested in those things. Too bad, Jay’s ears were pierced by none other than Evie, and thin gold earrings hang from them. He thinks they are neat.

One day, after school, he’s walking around Goblin Wharf with Mal (Carlos and Evie have some project to do together) when he spots something interesting. With years of stealing on his back, Jay has learned to find the good stuff quickly. They have to be rather cautious when being on this side of the Isle, the docks are part of Uma’s territory and while Jay never backs away from a good fight, he would rather not engage with her whole crew with only Mal to have his back.

Piled on the corner along with some cans of paint, there’s a… Well, Jay doesn’t know what is called, but he knows what it is. He has seen it in pictures, the thing were people paint their paintings. How did that thing ever got to the Isle of the Lost? Now that he took a closer look, it would seem that one wooden legs it’s broken, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. Carlos could probably do it in less than ten minutes. Jay wonders what it’s like to have so much that you can allow yourself to throw away things that are not even totally broken.

He must be the third person to wear the boots he has on, they have holes on the sides where the water and cold sink in, and the soles are slowly disintegrating. Mal is using the same jacket she had on the day they met, many years ago. Evie was constantly fixing it, patching the holes that fighting and scraping caused. The Isle didn't produce anything, only mended and re-selled what came from Auradon.

He decides then that he is going to take it, and the paint too. He checks twice, looking from side to side, the only people present are already drunk and it’s barely past noon. He thinks he could sprint through them easily, but he’s going to be carrying the thing on his back. Mal will have to deal with the cans of paint.

He pulls on the sleeve of her jacket, softly, and Mal turns to him. “Do you see that wooden thing over there?”

“Yes,” she replies, her eyes narrowing.

“I want it.”

“And I want to leave this island,” Jay huffed, paying her no mind.

“Come on, you carry those cans and I take… I take the thing.” He flashed her his best smile, the kind that melted men and women in the marketplace alike. Mal only blinked at him, unimpressed.

“You mean the _ easel _?” So that’s how it’s called.

“Yup,” he nodded. He knew it was used for art and whatever, Mal liked that stuff, so she might have some interest in the thing.

She shifted on her feet. “It won’t be worth much, it’s not the kind of thing your father sells in the shop.” Jay’s smile only widened.

“You are worried about how he might react?” He asked. Mal opened her mouth, ready to lie about how she didn’t care, but Jay cut her before she could. “Don’t, I’m keeping it for myself and I already have his things for today.” And he could be getting more, but now he’s busy with something else. “Or are you afraid that we might cross Uma?”

Mal never backed from a challenge, not when they were children and their opponents twice their size and not now. It was one of the things that Jay liked the most about her, she knew how to throw a punch. And that was pretty hot.

They hide together behind some boxes that are certainly filled with rotten fish if the smell was any clue. Jay kept himself from eating anything that looked like meat, Carlos had told him that it was dangerous to eat it in a bad state and though everything that reached the Isle was in a bad state, meat was particularly bad. Carlos was the smart one in the group, so Jay obeyed.

They waited until the few goblins and people that were relatively closed moved a bit. Then, Jay gestured at Mal that was safe. They tried to walk naturally, as if they were any other of the dock’s _ workers. _When they get to where the easel is, Jay sees that there are more cans of paint than he thought, piled in a basket of sorts that Mal is quick to grab. Jay stares at the wooden thing, it’s shorter than him by mere inches and bigger than it looked from afar, but it’s not heavy and he lifts it and carries him on his back.

“This isn’t worth the effort,” Mal hisses. “We can take the paint Jay, you don’t need that thing.” He doesn’t and she probably doesn’t either, but now is about his pride, so he puts on a tough face and hardens his grip on the thing. He holds it with one arm and keeps the other free for balance. Mal mutely counts to three and they sprint towards the alley.

There’s little moments of joy to be found in the Isle, but Jay feels an exhilarating thrill every time he runs wildly through the alleys, especially if one of his friends is with him and they are being chased. Like now. At some point, Mal’s inner madness comes out and she starts to laugh. Jay avoids being hit by a rock out of pure luck and he can’t help but laugh breathily too. His legs begin to get warm and sweat collects on the back of his head, hair sticking to his neck.

Mal is small enough to fit in a hole and jump to the other alley, leaving Jay to run and try to climb the walls. “See you at the hideout!” She yells before running away. Jay nods, though she’s long gone and no longer able to see him.

When he’s half-way across the Isle and only one block from their place, he sees something almost too tempting. The Slop Shop was moving their goods inside the building. Jay’s stomach roared, when was the last time he had eaten anything? Sure, everything that they sold was expensive and expired food from Auradon... But going at it meant to leave the easel to its luck. Jay bit his lip, no one would steal the damn thing, but it still felt wrong to just drop it on the spot.

Mal better be happy when she realizes it’s a gift.

He arrives to their hideout, throws some rocks and the stairs fall. He is suddenly feeling very tired and Jay considers sleeping there tonight, between the hunger and the dizziness, he is not sure he can make it to his father’s shop. He might need to double his stuff tomorrow, to keep his old man from getting _ too _ angry at him.

Mal is already there, sitting in a couch as she studies the cans and with the basket at her feet. She nods at him when he sits by her side, settling the easel on the floor. It stands fairly well, a bit crooked on the broken leg, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. His shoulder is in pain and he grunts loudly as he lands over the pillows. He’s so ready to die right there.

“These are good quality,” Mal speaks. “Not bad at all, I wonder how they ended up here.” Her fingers toy with the tag attached to the can. “What are you going to do with these, pour them over Hook’s head? Cause it would be a waste of good paint, I’m warning you.”

“I’m not throwing it at Hook,” Jay yawns. “They are… Ah, for you.” He says, suddenly feeling shy. He’s not looking at Mal. “That and the weasel.”

Mal slaps his shoulder. “_ Easel. _”

“That’s what I said.” He tentatively moves down, placing his head on her lap. Mal lets him, and runs her hands through his hair. He likes how she is when they are alone, either the two of them or with Evie and Carlos. She’s a different person. Mal becomes gentle when no one can see her.

“Thank you,” she says softly, in such a low voice that it might have been product of his imagination.

They spend the night there, Evie finds them the next morning and brings hard cookies for breakfast. Evie is not the kind that steals much, but Jay is pretty sure that she didn’t pay for them at the Slop Shop. Carlos arrives after her, and joins them at the couch. It’s a cold day on the Isle of the Lost, and they decide to skip class and stay inside.

Jafar yells at him when he goes back to the shop that night, but Jay believes it was worth it.

A few days later, Carlos makes Mal a canvas and she puts those paints to good use. Not only there, but she slowly makes progress on the walls of their hideout. Jay rather likes it.

* * *

With Carlos it’s a bit harder.

Carlos does like jewelry, but any jewelry that enters Hell Hall is sure to end up in his mother’s hands, so he rejects the trinkets that Jay brings. He tries not to look too bummed about it (he had spent the night before wondering how those black-steel earrings would have looked on him) and simply agrees with the other boy that it’s probably for the best.

He tries to think of other things he could enjoy. Electronic stuff comes to mind, but there are none of those he could smuggle out of his father’s shop and go unnoticed. He thinks of the things that are on the laboratory at Dragon Hall, but he doesn’t dare to steal from Dr.Facilier. Especially when he is on the same class as Freddie, the girl could get back at him at any time.

Clothes are Evie’s thing, so that’s off the table. Mal offers protection and (Jay almost says the L word) affection, and so does him, but he’d like to give the other boy something material. It doesn't even has to be that useful.

“If you could have in your hands anything, and I mean anything from the Isle, right now, what would it be?” Jay has no patience or subtlety, so he doesn’t bother to pretend. Both Evie and Mal were happy with the things he got them, and now he couldn’t wait to receive the same reaction from Carlos.

“I’d like to have my bag back.”

Jay frowned. “What do you mean?”

Carlos looked down, as if he were ashamed. “Junior and Third, I, they took my bag and I keep all my things there.” The things he didn’t brought to Hell Hall in fear his mother would take them away and the kind that he didn’t dare to leave on the treehouse.

“They know better than to mess around with you,” Jay’s blood ran hotter. “Don’t they know you are under Mal’s protection?” And Jay’s by default. Everyone on the Isle knew it, how dare them…

“They know. It’s just, they didn’t take it from me. I forgot it in the classroom during lunch and when I went back it was gone. But I saw them getting out and they had these stupid smiles on their faces…” His knuckles turned white. Jay knew that Carlos could fend for himself, it was one of the many things he liked about him, but he couldn’t possibly face both Third and Junior all alone. But Jay can.

He gains a purple eye and a bleeding nose (at least it’s not broken) and Carlos bag is returned to him. Evie frets over him and cleans the blood off his face, while Mal pretends not to be worried and gets him ice. Jay won’t be running around for a while, but again, neither will be Junior or Third. He lays on the couch, spread over it. Carlos stares at him silently as he checks that everything is where it should be.

“You are an idiot, you know that?” He curses. “I could have gone with you, we could have _ all _ gone with you.” Carlos grunted. “What is the point of being a gang if you go to take on the world on your own?”

Jay looks away, chastised. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be,” he continues. There’s a moment of silent, in which only the _ clic _ of Evie’s heels can be heard.

“Thank you,” Carlos whispers, leaning into the couch and pressing a light kiss to his cheek, avoiding the bruise on his jaw.

“It was a piece of cake.” Jay earns himself a pinch on the thigh.

It takes two days until he can eat comfortably again, a week until the bruise fades and two until the black eye stops being black. But all things considered, Jay thinks it was worth stealing from the Gaston’s. Though the more he thought about it, was it really stealing if they stole it first? Jay couldn’t care less.

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts? ;)


End file.
